LORIMER, William, a Representative and a Senator from Illinois; born in Manchester, England, April 27,
1861; immigrated to the United States in 1866 with his parents, who settled in Michigan; moved to
Chicago, Ill., in 1870; self-educated; apprenticed to the trade of sign painter at the age of ten;
worked in the packing houses and for a street railroad company; ward boss and constable 1886;
engaged in the real estate business and later as a builder and brick manufacturer; elected as a
Republican to the Fifty-fourth, Fifty-fifth, and Fifty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1895-March 3, 1901);
unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1900 to the Fifty-seventh Congress; elected to the Fifty-eighth
and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1903, until his resignation, effective
June 17, 1909, having been elected Senator; chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department
of the Navy (Sixty-first Congress), Committee on Mines and Mining (Sixty-second Congress),
Committee on Pacific Islands and Puerto Rico (Sixty-second Congress); presented credentials as a
Senator-elect to the United States Senate for the term that had commenced March 4, 1909, and
served from June 18, 1909, until July 13, 1912, when, after a Senate investigation and acrimonious
debate, the Senate adopted a resolution declaring that corrupt methods and practices were employed
in his election, and that the election, therefore, was invalid; resumed his former pursuits and was
president of La Salle Street Trust & Savings Bank 1910-1915; subsequently engaged in the lumber
business; died in Chicago, Ill., September 13, 1934; interment in Calvary Cemetery.

Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography;
Tarr, Joel A. A Study in Boss Politics: William Lorimer of Chicago. Urbana:
University of Illinois Press, 1971.